Is there a north-south divide in Cambridge? Arbury and King’s Hedges children discriminated against with ‘half-hearted and shoddy’ play equipment, says mum

Michelle Kennedy with her children and other disappointed local youngsters at the King's Hedges splash pad. Richard Marsham

08/08/14 New splash park is "dangerous"
The newly opened Splash park in Buchan Road, Kings Hedges. Some local residents are dissapointed with it and say it is not finished and unsafe. ..Pic - Richard Marsham

A mother says she is “disgusted” at the council for giving children in north Cambridge worse play equipment than their city peers.

Michelle Kennedy, 43, believes Cambridge City Council is discriminating against King’s Hedges and Arbury children by installing a water play area that is not a patch on the ones at Abbey and Coleridge.

The three “splash pads”, which cost a total of £350,000, contain interactive jets, cannons and fountains and have been unveiled over the last fortnight.

They have gone down a storm with many children, but Michelle says the one at King’s Hedges recreation ground, which is off Buchan Street, has been a huge disappointment to children.

The mum-of-six, who lives in St Catharine’s Square, said: “It is absolutely shocking. I’m disgusted because the other splash pads in Cambridge are great, but because we’re Arbury and King’s Hedges we have to make do with this.

“We were really looking forward to it opening, but when we get there all the children were saying ‘is this it’? It’s so half-hearted and shoddy. The jets have no pressure, there are weeds everywhere, there’s some old turf in the corner that I didn’t want to go near.

“Lots of other parents feel the same way. We feel we’re being discriminated against just because we’re from Arbury.”

She said rocks bordering the water area are a health and safety hazard and added: “They are going to get covered in water and mildew and some kid is going to fall off and crack their head. All sorts of dramas are going to happen.”

She said they abandoned the King’s Hedges splash pad, which opened this week, and went to Coleridge, where they said they had a fantastic time.

A dog walker, who did not want to be named, told the News he had seen several families standing by the splash pad over the last few days, looking unimpressed with the facilities.

Ian Ross, sport and recreation manager at the city council, denied there was any bias against King’s Hedges and Arbury.

He said there was still work to do around the splash pad, including relaying turf, and added they were working with the community to paint murals on the tired-looking wall behind it.

He added: “I’m disappointed to hear that feedback because we think the the one in King’s Hedges is of the same standard to the others and we have had some very positive feedback from families about it.

“If anything it has more features than the one at Abbey. We tried to make it so they weren’t clones of each other and there was something different to enjoy at each one.”

He added they had purposefully left an area to the right of the mini water park free for new play equipment which is coming in over the next few months and said the rocks were covered in material that does not get slippery when wet.